John Calvin

John Calvin (10 July 1509-27 May 1564) was a theologian from France and one of the major leaders of the Protestant Reformation, founding the faith of Calvinism. Calvin established a theocracy in Switzerland, one of the first Protestant states, and he argued that only God could save people from damnation; he believed that all people were "predestined", and that they could do nothing but go along with God's plans.

Biography
John Calvin was born on 10 July 1509 in Noyon, Picardy, France, and he gave up his interest in the priesthood to become a lawyer. In 1533, he decided to leave the Catholic church, claiming that it was a sudden change of mind that was caused by God. From 1538 to 1541, he served as a minister in Strassburg, a free city of the Holy Roman Empire (now Strasbourg, France), and he moved to Geneva, Switzerland in 1541. Calvin established a theocracy there, and his philosophy of Calvinism became one of the earliest Protestant denominations. Calvin argued that only God, not good deeds or faith, could save people from eternal damnation, and that only the "elect" would be saved; the rest of the people would live "predestined" lives. In addition, being poor was considered shameful by Calvinists, and this belief may have led to the rise of capitalism. Calvin published Institutes of the Christian Religion, the main text of Calvinism, while he was in Switzerland. Calvin would establish Protestant control over Geneva, killing the heretic Michael Servetus and forcing his opponents out of the country. He died in Geneva in 1564 at the age of 54.